Twist controller for thread



Oct. 31, 1950 A. PEH LIVANIAN TWIST CONTROLLER FOR THREAD Filed May 21,1949 Patented Oct. 31, 1950 UNITED STATES wxr zu'r oFFlcs fiQ TWISTCONTROLLER FOR THREAD Anthony Pehlivanian, Boonton, N. J.

Application May 21, 1949, Serial No. 94,561

2 Claims. 1

The present invention is directed to a mechanism for controlling thetwist in thread being fed to a sewing machine, and is more particularlyadapted for use in connection with artificial threads such as nylon,rayon, and the like.

In the sewing industry, there have been used various means for feedingand guiding thread from a spool to the sewing machine. Most of suchdevices consisted in a plurality of eyes through which the threadpassed, changing direction at each passage, and also passing through atension device, which in modern sewing machines in commercial operationprovided a tension of five pounds or more on the thread. Such a highdegree of tension caused serious wear in the tension device, which wasusually in the form of a disk with spring pressure thereon so that suchdisk wore out rather rapidly, caused difficulties in the sewingoperation and required frequent replacement.

Also because of the change of direction of the thread in'being guided tothe needle, combined with the tension in said disk, the thread, which ismade up of a series of fibers twisted, often opened up and tore becauseof the relative weakness of the individual fibers. Also, in thesewingoperation, the hook of the sewing machine caught the threadbetween the fibers and as a result cut the thread and interrupted thesewing operation. r The present'invention is intended and adapted toovercome the difiiculties and disadvantages inherent in prior devicesfor feeding thread, it being among the objects thereof to provide amechanical arrangement which acts to control the twist in the thread andwhich prevents the untwisting thereof while being fed to the needle. vIt is also among the objects of the present invention to provide adevice for controlling the twist of thread and feeding the same undersuch conditions that the tension on the tension disk or device islessened or even eliminated.

It is further among the objects of the present invention to provide asimple and effective arrangement which will prevent the formation ofknots or snarls in the thread during the feeding thereof.

In practicing the present invention, there is provided a rod which islocated directly above aspool of thread and the thread is fed directlyfrom the spool onto the rod, being twisted about the same. The threadextends freely upward from the spool and does not pass through an eye,hook, loop or tension device. At the upper end 2 thread passes on itsway to the sewing machine Because the thread is directly wound on therod without any change in direction, there is :no tendency for the twistin the thread to be moved along and to become concentrated as in priordevices and thereby the tendency to become knotted is substantiallycompletely eliminated.

The number of turns or twists in the thread which is spirally wound onthe rod may be varied in accordance with the type of the thread andtheconditions of the sewing operation. Bythe formation of the spiralwinding, there is provided a gradually increasing tension in the threadso that the differentialof tension between two ad? jacent points isrelatively low. Therefore, there is no tendency for the twist of thethread to be shifted, taken out or opened up. The final tension producedon'the rod may be that required by the sewing machine and, therefore,the tension device usually provided may be omitted. If the tensionproduced on the rod is insufficient for the sewing operation, then atension device is provided in which the amount of tension produced isrelatively small so that it does not tend to open up or take out thetwist in the thread{ Also, by reason of the relatively low spring pres-;sure on the tension device, it has a relatively long life. i

In the accompanying drawing constituting a part hereof, in which likereference characters indicate like parts,

Fig. 1 is a side elevational view of a device made in accordance withthe present invention, shown in association with a sewing machine andcon-. siderably enlarged in order to more clearly illustrate the ideasinvolved, and

Fig. 2 is a vertical cross-sectional view taken through the base memberand the spool mounted thereon and showing a portion of the rod.

The usual sewing machine has an arm I, a sew-jv ing head 2 and a threadguide 3. A tension disk. 4 spring-pressed is provided on the head 2,which, contains needle 5 and other sewing elements. All this is standardin the art.

The device of the invention consists of a baseli of any suitable typehaving a number of .coun.-, tersunk openings 1 therein through whichscrews, nails or the like may be'passed in order to fix the base againstrelative movement. A post 8 fixed centrally in base 6 extends upwardlyand forms. a support for a spool. The latter consists of a. conical base9 and a tube In mounted thereon and, said base and tube being securedtogether;- Thread II is wound on tube Ill. The spool of of the rod is aloop or the like through which the 56 thread is placed on post 8 and isheld thereon.

without any rotary motion during the sewing operation. Thread [2 extendsfrom the mass it of thread upwardly and freely without passing throughany eyes or the like. While conical base 9 is not fixed to spindle 8 orbase 5, it is held in its position by the force of gravity without beingraised axially and without rotation of spool it), during the feeding ofthread.

A vertical rod [3 is secured at one side to base 6 by a screw 14. At apoint above the top of the spool 9 there is a bend or offset 15' in therod so as to bring it directly above post 8. The rod is further bent asshown at It to extend vertically upward and terminates in a loop ll, sothat controller portion i6 is disposed directly above and substantiallyaxially of the spool 9.

The thread 12 is wound spirally as shown at 8 on the controller portionit of the rod and is then passed through loop H. The guide bar formingloop I? is substantially horizontal, the a controller portion I6 issubstantially vertical and loop I! is substantially axial of the spool 9and at the upper end of controller portion 16. The thread extendsdownwardly, as shown at 19, directly to the sewing machine and usuallythrough guide 3, being threaded through holes therein, guide 3 being ata level below loop I]. The thread then passes through the tension disk,adjusted at a relatively low tension, and then through the needle 5. V 7

As the sewing machine operates, it exerts a pull-on the thread againstthe relatively low tension of device 4 and pulls the thread into themachine. During this operation, the spiral windings ifi are placed undertension and the tension increases. gradually andby small amounts fromthe bottom of controller portion it to the top thereof. The windings 33are maintained substantially uniformly spaced overportion 15 during theoperation. Therefore, the increase in'tension over any unit length isrelatively small, and in any case, is so small that it does not tend tountwist the fibers of the thread. Even though the thread thereafterpasses through tension 4', it is not subjected to suificient additionaltension in said device to cause any untwisting of the fibers of thethread. This is due to the fact that the thread is already under arelatively high tension and the relatively small increase of tensioncaused by device l does not disturb the balance.

In actual use, the device of the present invention has been found to behighly advantageous, and a sewing machine operating at high speed forhours at a time does not show any tendency for knotting or snarling ofthe thread. This is in direct contrast to prior feeding devices whereinwith a thread such as nylon, in a relatively few minutes knots began toform in the thread, eventually causing breakage and defective sewing.The device of the present invention is simple and is relativelyinexpensive to manufacture. It may be placed in a position convenient tothe operator and without any interferencewith the sewing operation.

Although the invention has been described setting forth a singlespecific embodiment thereof, various changes in the detailsofconstruction may be made within the spirit thereof. For instance, thedevice may be placed on the floor on a special stand or on the bed ofthe sewing machine, or even be mounted on the arm I thereof. The rod maybe of diiferent form than shown in the draw i-ng and may be secured tothe base in a differentmanner. In some cases the base may be omitted Thebase need not have the holes 7 and need not necessarily be fixed toanother element but the weight of the base itself may in some cases besufiicient to hold it in its proper position.

These and other changes in the details of the invention may be madewithin the principles herein set forth and the invention is, therefore,to be broadly construed and not to be limited except by the character ofthe claims appended hereto.

I claim:

1. Mechanism for feeding twisted multifilament thread to a sewingmachine to prevent untw'isting and knotting thereof comprising a basehaving means for mounting an open ended spool having said threadthereon, a fixed rod extending upwardly from said base and bent to forma sub stantially horizontal guide bar and a vertical controller rodportion directly above said spoo'l, a loop at the upper end of saidcontroller portion, said spool being mounted on said base, said threadextending freely directly upward from said spool into the angle betweensaid controller and bar, said thread being twisted about said controllera plurality of turns and then passing through said loop, a sewingmachine having a thread guide thereon at a level below said loop, saidthread passing downwardly at an acute angle from'said loop through saidguide.

2. Mechanism for feeding twisted multifila ment thread to a sewingmachine to prevent untwisting and knotting thereof comprising a basehaving means for mounting an open ended spool having said threadthereon, a fixed rod extending upwardly from said base and bent to forma substantially horizontal guide bar and a vertical controller rodportion directly above said spool, a loop at the upper end of saidcontroller portion, said spool being mounted on said base, said threadextending freely directly upward from said spool into the angle betweensaid controller and bar, said thread being twisted about said controllera plurality of turns and then passing through said loop, a sewingmachine having a thread guide thereon at a level below said loop, saidthread passing downwardly at an acute angle from said loop through saidguide, a tension device adapted to exert a low degree of tension on saidthread, the latter passing from said guide through said tension device.I

ANTHONY PEHLIVANIAN.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file ofthis patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Goldsmith Mar. 26, 1918'

